Feedback & Reports

Olive dun

2 Trout

Caught 2, lost 3. All on dry flies. Difficult day with changeable weather but enjoyable. River in good condition.

2 Trout

Gusty rainy day. Water a foot higher and slightly coloured. Caught most on dark knight nymph, grannom and dark green perdigon. A couple of 10 minutes LDO hatches but difficult windy conditions. Both trout and grayling were 5-14”

11 Trout, 3 Grayling

From 10" to 18". All on hairs ear nymph.

10 Trout

Was surprised to see a few changes to this beat on arrival - a new bankside style over the fence to the beat start, a grip on the fencng further up, some boards with pool names and some signs of clearance amongst the jungle of Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed - even a few pockets of nettles, garlic mustard and celandine poking though, more than I can remember at this time of year. Very well done to the new owners Rachel and Shaun - it's great to see that this beat has now landed in good hands. I've offered to help with a working party here before, and will offer an extra pair of hands if you want to attack that further later in the year! (I do habitually destroy some of those invasives as I walk along the bank, worth all visitors doing that too to make a dent - just make sure you don't take any scraps away on your boots or let it fall in the river -every little helps!)

Anyway, to the fishing. It was very tough for most of the day, but I did manage to find a couple of small mayfly hatches in the early afternoon. A few LDOs but also some smaller, darker mayflies - I think maybe iron blues? They completely ignored my LDO patterns anyway but a switch to a small iron blue dry produced three. The biggest was a beauty - 19", and led me a merry dance down the river. I was worried I would not be able to get that in, as it powered off into the main surge of the river which was pretty high after the recent rain. However the through action of the bamboo did it's job beautifully not only with a gentle cast but cushioning those runs (a Phillipson Powr Pakt #5). Still nearly lost it nearside, as the crafty bugger then ran under a log projecting under the bank - I had to wade out for some instream gymnastics to gingerly poke the line off the end, thankfully the fish was still there. After that everythign switched off again, a couple of half-hearted knocks on wets but they weren't really interested. Thanks again for a lovely day out!

3 Trout

6 x trout 6-11 inches on Rusty Klinkhammer

6 Trout

4 Trout

Did not fish. River rising and above sensible fishing height

Nothing happening!

Arrived 10.30 am and was greeted by a nasty upstream wind which made casting hard to say the least. There was rain in the air which gathered force by early afternoon. The river was in great condition and not too high or low. Good clarity. The sand martins were out but aside from a desultory smattering of olives, no hatch really got underway. However, my team of spiders worked well with the partridge and yellow accounting for all three fish. Plump and feisty spring trout all around the one pound mark. A little less wind would be welcome please!

3 Trout